Many modern scholars regard Lucius as inadvertent pious fiction. We know that King Lucius of Edessa wrote to PopeEleuterus to ask for missionaries to the Britium region near Mesopotamia. Combined with the lack of popular devotion to Lucius in Britain, and no mention in writings before the 6th century leads to the belief that some old hand-written documents were misread, and were seen as an explanation for some early missionary efforts in England and Wales.